What have you fettled today?

[andytheflyer]

Chain clean on my 20/26 SWB Performer (winter bike) recumbent.  Mistakenly thought that spring had arrived on Monday and managed to get out without the fear of an off on ice.  Also managed to find a lane where a farmer had been carting slurry out of one field, down the lane for about half a mile, and onto another field.  The road was beyond belief.  I walked for the unrideable first bit before remounting for the less crappy (all relative) second bit and after a couple of scary moments got clear - but the M Racers were clogged into the 'guards.  No farmer about to shout at, unfortunately.  But the chain was a bit tight at first, but gradually eased.

Washed bike when I got home and looked at my once-clean KMC chain - didn't seem too bad but it would need a good oil and wipe before the next ride.

So, wiped and oiled, wiped, wiped some more, and yet more.  Despite looking fairly clean it sounded horrible so took it off last night for an overnight soak in white spirit, followed by laying out to dry and refitting, after cleaning the RD and chainrings - the cassette was OK.  Then multiple passes of a WD40 soaked cloth through both chain tubes until all muck was removed.

The sludge in the bottom of my soaking tub was beyond belief, and that's after cleaning an apparently 'reasonably' clean chain. 

All back together now and the chain's soaking up a liberal application of Finish Line Wet before being wiped back to near-dryness.

And it's just stopped snowing and the sun's out.  Give it a couple of hours and I might get out for the second time this week.  Where's Spring got to?

Recumbents eh?  Three times the chain length to be cleaned......

[Kim]

Recumbents eh?  Three times the chain length to be cleaned......

Theoretically it should be less bad as they tend not to have the front wheel chucking crud at the chainset, and on some of them a substantial part of the chain run is indoors.

Never seems to work that way in practice.

There's a reason I tend to stick to upwrongs in gritting season, other than for special occasions.

[Kim]

I Scotchgarded my Brompton C bag when I first bought it. It's still doing a good job of keeping out the wet stuff a year or so later.

That's good to know, I should do mine.

And now I have.

Looks like I've got enough left over some of the other non-waterproof bike luggage, too.   

[mcshroom]

Winter tyres are off the tourer and the Marathons are on in their place. Cue another bout of Eastly Beastliness

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Yesterday - Replaced the front wheel on HK's MTB commuter as she'd worn the rim enough to get a funny bulge that did odd things while braking. Deflinted the tyre before putting it on the ceramic-rimmed replacement.
Today - Swapped the front wheel on HK's Moulton ready for tomorrow's Horsepower 200. A nipple had cracked sometime during her last adventure. The chain and cassette are knackered but I'll replace them after tomorrow's rain, along with the nipple.

[IanDG]

Started to tidy the shed - need to get rid of 20 years accumulated (now unwanted) stuff before I move away.

[ElyDave]

fettling, unfetling and re-fettling of the cruzbike build

All cabled up now (except rear brake, snipped wrong end off the tandem cable  ), may adjust bar-end shifter cable routings still

Chain too short, new one on order - chainstays 4cm longer than donor bike and spare links gone walkies.

[T42]

Started to tidy the shed - need to get rid of 20 years accumulated (now unwanted) stuff before I move away.

What one might call shedding.

[andyoxon]

Installed a 24t TA ring onto the 105 HT2 triple.  So it's now 50-39-24, with a 20" low gear.

[Si S]

Bottom bracket on the Sabbath, nearly twice the price from a LBS compared to large haribo supplier who are retailing them for less than the distributor is charging trade to the LBS. Summat wrong there.

Nevermind, I need LBS's and got some odds and sods thrown in for free, saving not only the cost of the bits but also the obscene shipping charge that sole supplier wanted for something that could be put in an envelope.

[andytheflyer]

Installed a 24t TA ring onto the 105 HT2 triple.  So it's now 50-39-24, with a 20" low gear.

i.e proper gears, not this testosterone-fuelled 50-34 (or worse) compact rubbish that the bike manufacturers think we over-60s want to ride.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Changed the rear tube of HK's Moulton a couple of times. Looked to be a lifting patch and a flint. An ideal thing to do in a muddy road verge.

[ElyDave]

Front gate - looks like when it was last repaired the post was fastened to the wall with plugs too small for the holes.  Easy enough to sort out, but I had to take the gate off its hinges to do to, replace two of those screws and move the loop for the bolt to go into to make it all line up nicely.

Also tidied the gym/bikeshed to actually give me my gym floor back again now that the cruzbike is nearly built and put most of the toosl away again.

Cruzbike is now fully cabled and the indexing appears to be OK.  Chains on order (hopefully 116 links will be enough giving me a spare).  Should have it rideable by next weekend I hope.

[Beardy]

Nothing fettled today, but lots of bits and bobs ordered for the mantling of a naturalised hair vine constructed with gold wire and river pearls. This for Ms Beardy the eldest’s wedding outfit.

[Jakob]

Finally finished building this one. Only had time for a 30 min ride, but it's way more responsive than the old frame and I may not need to replace the fork. (Wanted a shorter offset...not sure now).

[T42]

Nice. Health to ride it, as me Da would've said.

Meanwhile, I have fettled SFA but I put the Ti warhorse on the turbo in the workshop before breakfast, and once digestion is sufficiently advanced I'm going out to retape the bars and get it ready to ride in the rain, other options lacking.

[clarion]

How do you fit your panniers on it, Jakob?

[clarion]

Meanwhile, I have removed a few bits from my trusty Ridgeback Romany, fettled it rather less than I planned, and passed it on to niece/nephew (whichever it fits).

Bought as an interim, and I really didn't want to like it, but it was an absolute dream.  I hope the new owner loves it too.

[Jakob]

How do you fit your panniers on it, Jakob?

Heh!. At least my other half has now accepted that this isn't just a passing fad and didn't grumble too much when I ordered the new frame....although I did time just after she bought a fancy pair of new boots. (Something she rarely does to be honest). Re-learning tricks has been super-hard, but the 'kids' (I'm old enough to call them that now) at the skateparks have been super cool and while they may be laughing at us, they don't do while we're there.
 A couple of the more funny moments has been when someone comes to kick us out of a spot and see that we aren't just a bunch of kids and don't know what to say.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Replaced the nearly worn-out front V-brake pads on HK's MTB commuter with a set suitable for a ceramic rim. Replaced the rear tyre, cassette and chain on her Moulton ready for her French trip later this week. Also replaced the worn pedal sockets for the Wellgo QRD pedals on her Moulton; much less play now.

[Deano]

Converted my Surly back to fixed - I wasn't loving singlespeed anyway, but the main spur was the fact that the Sturmey freewheel has seized, after barely 600 miles.

While I was at it, I fitted a Brooks saddle and a Carradice. It is a tourer, after all.

[zigzag]

removed the slug (12g!) that lived inside a tubless tyre, gave the tyre a good scrub but it's too much of a task to get all the dried sealant off. remounted the tyre and will be adding the sealant later. rear tyre awaits the same procedure..

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Converted my Surly back to fixed - I wasn't loving singlespeed anyway, but the main spur was the fact that the Sturmey freewheel has seized, after barely 600 miles.

So, already a fixed gear bike?

[Deano]

Converted my Surly back to fixed - I wasn't loving singlespeed anyway, but the main spur was the fact that the Sturmey freewheel has seized, after barely 600 miles.

So, already a fixed gear bike?

And a barely worn-in sprocket! Gearing would've been a bit low for fixed, I reckon.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Had to fit a new brake caliper to the Sequoia, which meant removing the bar tape from the top of the bars in order to thread the new inner cable through the outer. I was reusing the old outer, but it turns out it's in two pieces where it runs under the bar tape: there's a section of coiled looking outer running round the bend, which is then joined by a ferrule to normal brake outer. The inner was catching in this ferrule. Slightly annoying, but a price worth paying for the neatness of having all cables under the tape. Maybe!